Drylands (album)

Drylands
Studio album by Mel Parsons
Released	10 April 2015
Genre	Folk-pop, indie folk [1]
Length	51:27 [2]
Label	Cape Road Recordings [3]
Producer	Mel Parsons, Gerry Paul [4]
Mel Parsons chronology

Last updated September 29, 2019

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
New Zealand Herald	^[5]
Otago Daily Times	^[6]
Pop Magazine	^[7]

Drylands is Mel Parsons' third album, released on 10 April 2015 on Cape Road Recordings.^[3]^[8] The album was recorded in engineer Lee Prebble's Surgery Studios in Wellington, New Zealand. One of the songs Parsons wrote was a duet, and she decided to cold e-mail Ron Sexsmith to see if he would perform the other half of the song "Don't Wait", and he agreed. Along with Ron Sexsmith, the album showcases local and international guest musicians Anika Moa, Vyvienne Long, and Trevor Hutchinson.^[9] Another song on the album, "Get Out Alive", is the result of her writing about a dangerous car accident she was in where the car rolled four times and was totaled, but she walked out without serious injury, but found herself re-evaluating her life for a time.^[10]^[7]

Mel Parsons is an indie folk and alternative country singer/songwriter from New Zealand.

Lee Prebble is a producer and engineer at Wellington, New Zealand recording studio The Surgery. He has produced and co-produced platinum selling records for Trinity Roots and The Black Seeds as well as albums by The Phoenix Foundation, Spartacus R, Cornerstone Roots, Fly My Pretties and The Inkling.

Ronald Eldon "Ron" Sexsmith is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario. He was the songwriter of the year at the 2002 Juno Awards. He began releasing recordings of his own melancholic pop material in 1985 at age 21, and has since recorded fifteen albums. He was the subject of a 2010 documentary called Love Shines.

Track list

All tracks written by Mel Parsons^[4]^[9].

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Far Away"	3:37
2.	"Alberta Sun"	4:15
3.	"Driving Man"	4:33
4.	"Non Communicado"	3:48
5.	"Don't Wait" (featuring Ron Sexsmith)	3:43
6.	"Far North Coast"	3:36
7.	"Good Together"	3:22
8.	"Friend"	4:34
9.	"Get Out Alive"	3:45
10.	"Down So Long"	4:17
11.	"First Sign of Trouble"	4:18
12.	"Fireworks"	2:48
13.	"Another City"	4:51

Personnel

Musicians^[4]^[8]^[5]^[11]

Mel Parsons – vocals, guitar
Gerry Paul - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, lap steel guitar
Neil Watson - guitar
Aaron Stewart - bass
Trevor Hutchinson - double bass
Craig Terris - drums
Nick George - drums
Ed Zuccollo - piano, Hammond organ
Vyvienne Long - cello
Ron Sexsmith - vocals (track 5)
Anika Moa - backing vocals
Andrew Keoghan - vocals (track 8)
Lisa Tomlins - backing vocals (track 8)
Anji Sami - backing vocals (track 8)
Lex French - trumpet
Ebony Lamb - choir (track 1)
Anna Shaw - choir (track 1)
Jamie Parlett - choir (track 1)
Cameron "Dusty" Burnell - choir (track 1)
Kim Bonnington - choir (track 1)
Louis Thompson-Munn - choir (track 1)
Imogen Holmstead-Scott - choir (track 1)
Katie McCarthy-Burke - choir (track 1)
Justin Firefly Clarke - choir (track 1)
Manu Scott - choir (track 1)

Trevor Hutchinson is a Northern Irish bass player and a founding member of Lúnasa. Born in Cookstown, County Tyrone, in Northern Ireland, he played with numerous bands before Lúnasa, including The Waterboys and Sharon Shannon.

The Hammond organ is an electric organ, invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Various models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to specify a variety of sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated sound by creating an electric current from rotating a metal tonewheel near an electromagnetic pickup, and then strengthening the signal with an amplifier so it can drive a speaker cabinet. The organ is commonly used with, and associated with, the Leslie speaker.

Vyvienne Long is a musician from Co. Dublin, Ireland. A classically trained cellist from the College of Music, Dublin and the Escola de Musica in Barcelona, she also sings and plays piano and writes music for her quintet which comprises 2 cellos, piano, doublebass and drums.
After touring for many years with Damien Rice she released an EP entitled Birdtalk in 2006. Her well-known cello heavy cover version of Seven Nation Army appeared on Even Better than the Real Thing vol 2, a compilation of Irish artists. In March 2009 she released a single from her album called Happy Thoughts. The song, originally used for a cheese ad, asks a number of whimsical questions relating to the unusual habits of various wild animals.
Her debut album Caterpillar Sarabande, recorded in The Cauldron Studios Dublin, was released in Ireland and digitally on 12 March 2010.
She headlined A Gig For Haiti, a benefit concert for Oxfam in Dublin on 27 March 2010, which featured other Irish artists such as Sweet Jane, The Last Tycoons and Rob Smith.

Production^[4]^[8]

Mel Parsons - producer
Gerry Paul - producer
Don Bartlye – mastering at Benchmark, Sydney
Lee Prebble - engineering at the Surgery, Wellington, NZ, mixing (track 1)
Trevor Hutchinson - additional engineering
Don Kerr - additional engineering
Jeremy Toy - additional engineering
Oliver Harmer - mixing at The Lab, Auckland, NZ, additional engineering

Chart

Chart	Peak position
NZ Top 40 Albums Chart	17^[12]
Top 20 IMNZ Albums	1^[13]

Awards

Best Country Music Song (Alberta Sun) – 2016 New Zealand Music Awards.^[14]
Best Engineer (Lee Prebble and Oliver Harmer) - 2015 New Zealand Music Awards ^[15]

The 2016 New Zealand Music Awards was the 51st holding of the annual ceremony featuring awards for musical recording artists based in or originating from New Zealand. It took place in November 2016 at Vector Arena in Auckland and was hosted by comedy duo Jono Pryor and Ben Boyce. The awards show was broadcast live on TV3 and The Edge TV.

The 2015 New Zealand Music Awards was the 50th holding of the annual ceremony featuring awards for musical recording artists based in or originating from New Zealand. It took place on 19 November 2015 at Vector Arena in Auckland and was hosted by Taika Waititi. The awards show was broadcast live on TV3. 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the awards from its origins in 1965 as the Loxene Golden Disc.

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References

↑ Reid, Graham (13 April 2015). "Mel Parsons: Drylands (Border)". Elsewhere. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
↑ "Drylands - Mel Parsons". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
1 2 "Drylands by Mel Parsons". iTunes NZ. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
1 2 3 4 Drylands (CD liner). Mel Parsons. New Zealand: Cape Road Recordings. 2015. CRR083.CS1 maint: others (link)
1 2 Gillespie, Kim (17 April 2015). "Music Review: Drylands, Mel Parsons". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
↑ Gilchrist, Shane (27 April 2015). "CD reviews: Mel Parsons". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
1 2 Perkins, Mai (21 April 2015). "Review: Mel Parsons – Drylands". Pop Magazine. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
1 2 3 "Drylands by Mel Parsons". Bandcamp. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
1 2 "Mel Parsons 'Drylands' Release Tour with Christof (NL)". EventFinda. 16 March 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
↑ "Finding the Balance Between the Pragmatic & the Poetic". The Music.com.au. 7 November 2016. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
↑ Sweetman, Simon (15 April 2015). "Mel Parsons: Drylands". Off the Tracks. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
↑ "Mel Parsons - Bio". Muzic.Net.NZ. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
↑ "Top 20 IMNZ Albums – Week To Thursday, 3 November 2016". Independent Music NZ. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
↑ "Country Music Winners Announced". Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
↑ Dunstan, Robert. "Mel Parsons at Trinity Sessions – Friday 11 December". BSide Magazine. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

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[1] Reid, Graham (13 April 2015). "Mel Parsons: Drylands (Border)". Elsewhere. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

[2] "Drylands - Mel Parsons". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 February 2017.

[iTunes_-_Drylands-3] 1 2 "Drylands by Mel Parsons". iTunes NZ. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

[Drylands_liner-4] 1 2 3 4 Drylands (CD liner). Mel Parsons. New Zealand: Cape Road Recordings. 2015. CRR083.CS1 maint: others (link)

[NZHerald-5] 1 2 Gillespie, Kim (17 April 2015). "Music Review: Drylands, Mel Parsons". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

[6] Gilchrist, Shane (27 April 2015). "CD reviews: Mel Parsons". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

[PopMag-7] 1 2 Perkins, Mai (21 April 2015). "Review: Mel Parsons – Drylands". Pop Magazine. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

[bandcampDry-8] 1 2 3 "Drylands by Mel Parsons". Bandcamp. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

[eventfinda-9] 1 2 "Mel Parsons 'Drylands' Release Tour with Christof (NL)". EventFinda. 16 March 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

[10] "Finding the Balance Between the Pragmatic & the Poetic". The Music.com.au. 7 November 2016. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

[11] Sweetman, Simon (15 April 2015). "Mel Parsons: Drylands". Off the Tracks. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

[12] "Mel Parsons - Bio". Muzic.Net.NZ. Retrieved 9 February 2017.

[13] "Top 20 IMNZ Albums – Week To Thursday, 3 November 2016". Independent Music NZ. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2017.

[14] "Country Music Winners Announced". Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2019.

[15] Dunstan, Robert. "Mel Parsons at Trinity Sessions – Friday 11 December". BSide Magazine. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2019.